


Another Rapture

by seleniticexplorer



Series: Bioshock one-shots [4]
Category: BioShock Infinite
Genre: AU, Angst, Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea, Blood, Death, Gen, One Shot, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 09:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7164866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seleniticexplorer/pseuds/seleniticexplorer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth visits a universe where she encounters a very different version of Anna and Booker, but some things never change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Rapture

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fawkes_Rinzler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fawkes_Rinzler/gifts).



> Bioshock angst. Because this idea wouldn't leave me alone. XD

Elizabeth followed the trail of bloody footprints through the halls, keeping an eye out for splicers.  But the dilapidated corridors seemed safe and silent.  Slipping through the doors of a larger chamber, Elizabeth finally found what she was looking for.

“Thank you… for saving her…”

The Bouncer was slumped against the wall across from her, corpses of splicers piled on the floor around it.  Blood and some other strange fluids were oozing from its suit and the cage-like structure around the helmet had been mostly torn away.  The only sign that the creature was still alive was the faintest flicker of yellow in the many lenses of its helmet. 

Elizabeth drew closer.  “Funny isn’t it?  We always end up back here…” Her voice was not bitter, but trembling.  She tightened her hands into fists before sighing and kneeling beside the Big Daddy. 

It let out a low, warning moan, but she knew it was an empty threat.  For a few minutes, she struggled with the locking mechanism on the helmet, but it finally came loose.  Gritting her teeth with the strain of the helmet’s weight, Elizabeth pried it free, drenching her skirt and the Big Daddy’s suit with a strange-smelling yellow liquid.

Carefully, she placed the helmet on the floor beside them, then turned to look into the man’s face.

It was a horrible sight of course, one she expected but could not have prepared herself for.  His nose and mouth were grafted to a breathing mask of some sort.  Scars covered his skin, painting his mostly hairless, nearly translucent skin with web-like marks.  But his eyes, bloodshot and dim as they were, were still the same.

“Booker…”

He looked at her, his labored breathing now audible with the helmet removed.

“Booker, it… it’s me…”

A flicker appeared in his eyes.  A recognition.  Groaning, he struggled to push himself up, reaching for her.  Blood and black ooze began gushing even more rapidly from his wounds.

Elizabeth caught his hand.  She let out a choking laugh.  “It’s too late to save me,” she said, holding the gloved hand between her own.  “I’m not your Anna.  But…  She’s safe now, she’s ok… And I don’t think she would have wanted you to suffer like this.”

Booker kept reaching for her mutely, but she could not have become a child again and cried in his arms, even if she wanted to. 

Elizabeth leaned in and kissed his forehead.  “It’s ok… It’s almost over…”  She reached for her pistol, but her nerve began to slip.  She’d watched Booker die so many times, sometimes by her own hands.  This time, she couldn’t do it.

She sighed, a bitter smirk on her lips.  Elizabeth sat down beside him and let him wrap an arm around her protectively, as weak as he was.

As they waited, Elizabeth started humming gently.  Her voice was rough from lack of use, but she could still remember the words clearly enough _.  “You can picture happy gath’rings round the fireside long ago.  And you think of tearful partings when they left you here below…”_

She looked up to find Booker watching her.  His eyes had grown dimmer.

_“Will the circle be unbroken… By and by… by and by…”_

His breathing slowly stopped.  His eyes were closed, his expression peaceful. 

Elizabeth gently squeezed the gloved hand before getting to her feet.  She lingered for a moment.

Then disappeared back into Rapture.


End file.
